Forgot to Say [Percy Jackson and the Olympians Fanfic]

From the Beginning

He’s sitting at the table at night as usual, quietly pushing around his food. She rolls her eyes and snorts.

 

“You know, you should actually try to make yourself useful or do something other than waste your time away,” she scowls at him.

 

He just looks up and gives her a tired smile, obvious circles under his eyes.

 

“How was your day? Not too bad, I hope. Wanna eat dinner with me?”

 

She scoffs, “It’s ‘want to,’ dimwit. And no, I’m not hungry. I’m going to be in my study.”

 

She brushes by him without another glance or word, and she ignores how his smile drops and he hangs his head, shoulders slumping. She feels something uncomfortable shoot through her, but she ignores the feeling and she ignores how it’s the twelfth night he’s stayed up waiting for her.

 

She frequently calls him names, and Athena will admit that she goes too far with them. In fact, it’s uncalled for, this treatment. She couldn’t help it; she just tended to insult him instinctively.

 

“You’re such a stupid Seaweed Brain!” she yells in frustration when he accidentally trips and one of her favorite vases breaks.

 

She calls him that a lot, but unlike her daughter it’s not in fondness.

He just smiles enduringly, like always, and gets on his hands and knees as he starts picking up the broken pieces. The next day, she sees the broken vase has been put back together as best as it could be, although not completely whole but still nearly perfect. He must have spent all night, stayed up just to put it back together for her.

 

Athena throws it away.

 

She knows the other goddesses disapprove of how she treats him and how ungrateful she is. How they would have preferred to have him all to themselves. Even the other gods say the same thing, only they’re less vocal about it and it just shows more in their eyes. How they all would have loved to have the Hero of Olympus with them instead. How they all want him for themselves.

 

And she knows how many of them have tried –and failed.

 

She doesn’t know why she’s this obnoxious to him, to the point of being nasty. She just innately treats him cruelly and horribly, and she just can’t control herself. It’s so disgusting, the way she is with him, that it’s nearly unbearable to remember and look back on each and every time. She doesn’t understand why she acts like this, but he just takes it without a word of complaint. And she doesn’t understand that either.

 

Athena is terrified when she sees Aphrodite set her eyes on him, but it’s not a surprise. Because the goddess of love has always set her eyes on him; Athena is just surprised and shocked that the other goddess is finally deciding to make a move.

“Better me than you, hm? At least I will not treat him as horribly as you do.”